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Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told<\/a><\/strong><\/span> Foreign Policy<\/span>on Tuesday\u00a0that when Olympic marathoner Feyisa Lilesa raised his arms in an \u201cX\u201d at the Summer Games in Rio, he wasn\u2019t protesting mistreatment of Ethiopia\u2019s Oromo population at the hands of government forces, but had instead been coerced into the protest by an armed secessionist group.<\/p>\n But in an email to Foreign Policy<\/span> on Friday, Feyisa called Hailemariam\u2019s claims \u201cbaseless, completely false, and insulting.\u201d He totally dismissed the idea that any outsiders \u2014 including naturalized American citizens loyal to the anti-government Oromo Liberation Front \u2014 convinced him to protest as he crossed the finish line in second place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOLF did not tell me to speak out or be a voice for my people,\u201d Feyisa wrote. \u201cMy conscience made me do that. I spoke out because I wanted to expose the gross violation of human rights in Ethiopia.\u201d<\/p>\n Feyisa went on to say that his friend, Kebede Feyisa, \u201cwas shot and burned to death along with other prisoners in the Qilinto prison\u201d in central Ethiopia this month. According to him, that friend was arrested during a peaceful protest and later killed by security forces. It\u2019s stories like his, Feyisa said, that inspired him to protest his government and then flee to the United States under the pretext that he would potentially risk his life by returning home.<\/p>\n Hailemariam told FP<\/span> on Tuesday\u00a0that he does not blame Feyisa for the protest because he strongly believes it was \u201corchestrated by someone else from outside,\u201d and pointed multiple times to the OLF and its sympathizers in the United States. He said that Feyisa will be safe and greeted like a hero if he chooses to return home.<\/p>\n But Toleeraa Adabaa, a spokesman for the OLF based in Eritrea, told FP<\/span> in an email that Hailemariam lied about the secessionist group\u2019s involvement in Feyisa\u2019s protest because he preferred \u201cto point his finger to OLF rather than solving the problems which are causes for the protest all over Ethiopia.\u201d<\/p>\n And Feyisa said in his email that it was \u201cthe Oromo people and friends of the Oromo, not the OLF, who facilitated my trip to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHailemariam\u2019s government has jailed and killed far too many people under the pretext of supporting the OLF,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Oromo people can no longer be fooled.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Feyisa has not yet announced any intention to seek asylum in the United States, he appeared alongside Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) at a press conference on Capitol Hill this month, when Smith announced plans to introduce legislation that would ask Ethiopia to allow an independent rapporteur to enter the country and examine the human rights situation there. In his Tuesday\u00a0conversation with FP<\/span>, Hailemariam said he would under no circumstances allow the rapporteur into the country, \u201cnot because there is something to be hidden, but it\u2019s because we have a sovereignty that needs to be kept.\u201d<\/p>\n Human rights groups say that some 400 Oromos have been killed in protests\u00a0since November, and accuse security forces of using excessive force against civilians in order to silence their demands for equal representation in the country\u2019s government.<\/p>\n In his statement to FP<\/span>, Feyisa said he has continuously witnessed the mistreatment of his ethnic group, and was for that reason compelled to raise his arms in protest in Rio.<\/p>\n \u201cI was not surprised by his comments because individuals who are always controlled by others tend to assume everyone is that way as well,\u201d he said. \u201cUnlike the prime minister, I make my own decisions and speak for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n